"The west has fiscalised its basic power relationships through a web of contracts, loans, shareholdings, bank holdings and so on."
[LP] "In such an environment it's easy 4 speech 2be "free" becuz a change in political will rarely leads 2any change in these basic instruments."
[LP] "Western speech, as something that rarely has any effect on power, is, like badgers and birds, free."
[LP] "In states like China, there is pervasive censorship, because speech still has power and power is scared of it."
[LP] "We should always look at censorship as an economic signal that reveals the potential power of speech in that jurisdiction."

Julian Assange
[LP] The core of what he is saying is that the proliferation of free speech inversely represents the lack of effect it has on power structures.
[LP] The more the speech is "free" the less powerful it really is. It is a very radical angle. Any takers?

#PhilosophySunday
[TW] @LupeFiasco Julian Assange proved in a way that speech is not free.. Not when it comes to the west. Here your speech is mediated... and controlled by those in power. Speech is not truly free when it is corralled under the terms of who it's directed at
[TW] @LupeFiasco I think Assange is absolutely correct. Speech is very feared, mostly when it's unpopular and free.
[LP] But what he is inferring is that power does NOT in fact fear "free" speech at all. It is "free" becuz it is not feared. @CalebFnCool
[TW] @LupeFiasco occupy wall street was a powerful and dangerous free speech movement that was aimed towards eliminating US capitalism #PS
[LP] Actually u could say the "danger" of OWS was mitigated becuz it was built on the powerless premise of western free speech @kamilahvictoria[TW] Salman Rushdie is more impactful in India because he is persecuted for his writings. It ironically brings exposure @LupeFiasco #PS
[TW] @LupeFiasco i dont think the fact that it's free makes it less powerful, it's the intent and lack of meaning or thought behind it #ps
[LP] Look at this way. How much to do u truly cherish something that was given to u for free as opposed to a thing u had to pay $$$ for? @cbuddz
[TW] .@LupeFiasco but the attempt to stifle peaceful protests like Occupy shows the US government is scared of free speech #PS
[LP] I don't think so. I think it was the OWS aesthetic that was unpleasant to the power structure. Inconvenient but no threat @JordanRaeLake
[TW] @LupeFiasco can you use his view on free speech when he worked to leak information?
[LP] I think the reaction to the leaks by the US is because it threatened external relations NOT the internal Western status quos @mullady21
[TW] @LupeFiasco Free speech, rarely appreciated until it's taken away, most of our generation raised in the U.S. has never experienced this. #PS
[LP] Does this "taking away" lead to a sort of resentment or anger that could possibly empower speech overall? @MIKJAGGA
[TW] @LupeFiasco Part of this thinking is also derived from the idea that the western world is as good as it gets and can ever be #PS
[LP] Very interesting @TravisGBTBB
[TW] @LupeFiasco one could say that America has more of a stranglehold on their people than China does. #PS #Solzhenitsyn
[LP] Ah the Spector of democratic tyranny... @EvansBranagh
[TW] @LupeFiasco so our goal is to have a opinion worth silencing? Because being allowed means you and your word has no meaning.
[LP] It may mean that silence is more powerful that words. As it removes a barometer for the power structure to "test" society @AvaryF
[TW] @AvaryF @lupefiasco I feel even with an opinion worth silencing we're still somehow overshadowed by ignorance
[LP] "What they do not know will hurt them" so to speak Or Biggies line "Bad Boys move in silence." Limit the information accessible @AvaryF
[TW] @LupeFiasco for example the OWS movement would be incredibly strong now had the power system not given the movement media attention #PS[TW] @LupeFiasco I would argue that Information overload functions as a form of censorship because it is almost impossible to find the truth anyway
[TW] @LupeFiasco speech if everyone had a Bugatti and flaunts it, it goes down in value. speech becomes an materialistic thought in this essence
[LP] Speech defined as a being a material is very interesting. #ps #twittergold right there @xygoma_
[TW] @LupeFiasco a politician's speech is not seen as 'powerless'. If people organised themselves better & then spoke, neither would theirs. #PS
[LP] It can b argued tht a politicians freespeech is the least powerful of all Think of the ambiguity of the "campaign promise" @_MudassarRashid
[LP] And that's #PhilosophySunday for this week. Thanks 2 everyone who chimed in! Shout 2 yall who struck #twittergold . See y'all next week #ps